I ducked over to the Friday farmers' market at lunch with the intention of getting a couple of beets, a bouquet of sunflowers, and maybe some Parmesan or something like that if any of the vendors had any. (They didn't.)

I wound up coming away with more than two tote bags full: half a flat of strawberries (only $5!), two bunches of jumbo carrots (with the greens for the bird), a bunch of leeks, a head of cauliflower, an Armenian cucumber, a bunch of beets (with the greens from an extra bunch tossed in for lagniappe), some Medjool dates, some sproutedalmonds, and a bouquet of sunflowers.

Looks like jam-making is in my plans for the weekend. Gotta stop and get some Mason jars on the way home, though.

I need to pick up some Pomona's the next time I'm anywhere that carries it. For now I've been doing microbatches of low-sugar, no-pectin jam, figuring that if I'm only making a pint at a time and storing it in the fridge, I don't need to worry too much about what effects decreasing the sugar & pectin will have on the storability.

I've really been finding that the jams I make (even the experimental, "hey, let's throw in a couple of teaspoons of this homemade chai masala to spice it up" batches) taste better to me than commercial ones, even the fancy small-batch ones from Piedmont Grocery or the farmers' market vendors.